They show up for dinner, help with homework, lead the rituals of bedtime and park their butts in the bleachers when their kids are in action.<\/p>\n\n
They are heavy on discipline, but also eager to praise. They have been known to spank their children, but they are also more likely to hug them. They certainly take their families to church \u2014 early and often.<\/p>\n\n
They are totally off the radar screens in Hollywood and elite academia.<\/p>\n\n
They are ordinary, faithful, evangelical and Catholic men and University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox has survey data showing that they appear to be more involved, more dedicated fathers than their secular counterparts, or even those who worship in more \u201cprogressive\u201d pews.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cConservative Protestant Churches and parachurch ministries have stressed values such as traditional gender attitudes, strict discipline, expressive parenting and parental involvement,\u201d noted Wilcox, in the Journal of Marriage and Family. \u201cMoreover, because of their pietist tradition of worship and increasingly therapeutic approach to relationships, conservative Protestant churches have an expressive ethos that may carry over into family life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
It would be wrong, Wilcox explained, to call these fathers old-fashioned traditionalists who rule their homes with an iron hand and a stiff upper lip. Instead, Wilcox called them \u201cneo-traditionalists\u201d who are trying to blend discipline and doctrine with a new style of parenting that is also heavy on \u201caffection and sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The result is not \u201csome kind of flashback to the 1950s,\u201d said Wilcox. \u201cI think what we are seeing is evidence that there are lots of evangelical and Catholic fathers who are truly changing their lives to try to spend more time with their children. The evidence is that they are doing this because they believe God wants them to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This survey will certainly be seen as a paradox, if not a threat, by other researchers, noted theologian Russell D. Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAfter all,\u201d he said, \u201cwouldn\u2019t one expect that conservative evangelical dads would dismiss childrearing as \u2018women\u2019s work,\u2019 while they attend Billy Graham crusades or uproot South American rain forests, or do, well, whatever it is that evangelical men do?\u201d But perhaps, he added, \u201cevangelical fathers are more committed to their children, not in spite of their biblical understanding of the family, but because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The national study of 1,000 fathers who live at home focused on several practical questions about daily life. Wilcox found that evangelicals were more likely to spend one-on-one time with their children and to take part in family meals and church activities. Catholic fathers had similar high scores, but tended to favor non-religious activities with their children.<\/p>\n\n